Mushroom Pizza for Marathon Training

Pizza is one of my favorite meals to have during marathon training. It’s actually really good for carb loading, as long as your digestive system can handle the cheese! This recipe is for a mushroom pizza that really brings out the flavor of the mushrooms.

I made my pizza with morel mushrooms back when they were fresh, but they would work really well with any type of mushroom. When you are choosing a mushroom, try to choose one with a bit more flavor. (At the grocery store, choose the portobello mushrooms over the white button mushrooms if those are your only two options.) Shiitake mushrooms would also make a really nice choice. This pizza is for mushroom lovers, so get ready for some mushroom flavor!

Mushroom Pizza for Marathon Training

Time: 30 minutes + the time to make pizza dough if using homemade.Serves: 4 (one 14-16 inch pizza)

Directions:

Make pizza dough according to recipe & let it rest.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees

Lightly grease a sheet pan with olive oil and coat with corn flour.

Melt 4 tbsp butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add the morel mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have released their liquid and their liquid has evaporated. This took about 10-12 minutes for me.

There is no need to cook until the mushrooms are golden because the mushrooms will cook more on the pizza.

Remove mushrooms with a slotted spoon, lower heat to medium-low, and add 3 tbsp butter to the pan.

Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes.

Add milk 1 cup at a time, stirring between each cup and giving the mixture time to thicken up. You may not need the entire 2nd cup of milk, you want this mixture to be very thick- thicker than gravy.

Season to taste with salt and pepper- I did not specify an amount for this, but just start with about ½ tsp of salt, a sprinkling of pepper and taste and adjust as you would like.

Add 1 tsp fresh thyme to the sauce.

Roll out the pizza dough to fit the sheet pan, and fold over the edge to form a crust.
Spread out the white sauce onto the pizza dough so that it is even and coats the entire pizza.

Cover the pizza with the shredded mozzarella cheese- avoid the urge to go overboard! Too much cheese makes for a greasy pizza. I think I used about 2.5 cups total.

Place the morel mushrooms on the pizza evenly spread out.

Lightly sprinkle the pizza with ½ tsp thyme, shredded parmesan, and a little bit of salt. These items should be accents, and again do not go overboard. You want the morels to really shine.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese starts to brown. If after 10-12 minutes you feel that the cheese needs to brown more, place under the broiler for 1-2 minutes, watching extremely carefully.

Let cool slightly before slicing then serve!

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Lauren Dirkschneider

Lauren is a born and raised Minnesotan, currently living in Nebraska. She has been a lifelong athlete who picked up running during grad school, and hasn't looked back since! When she is not running you will find her in the kitchen making some amazing food, kayaking, knitting, or checking out local breweries.

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